Parents, Birthdays, and the Rise of "Real Street"

First off, a belated Happy Father's Day to any readers who possess both a Y chromosome and at least one child, I hope you enjoyed your day.
Second, a very happy birthday to my girlfriend Deanna, who, aside from making the amazing new banner for the site, is just an amazing person in general. I love you, honey.
Now, on with the post:

It seems as though mainstream society has stopped trying with skateboarding...

...again.

It's the same as it ever was, and is about due. Anyone who has been alive and cognizant for the last twenty years or more can testify to the cyclical nature of skateboarding's popularity, which is usually symbolized by a gradual increase over the first half of a decade, followed by a three or four year span of mainstream frenzy, and a subsequent meteoric plummet into a kind of near-death torpor over the course of the next decade's inaugural months. It happened in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, although the advent of the internet, as well as skateboarding video games caused a funny thing to happen during the 2000s; that is to say, from 2000 to now, the cycle reversed.

 

Another funny thing happened in the 2000s: The Osiris D3

Rather than suddenly plummeting back to Earth with enough force to drive it back underground, skateboarding experienced a solid wave of mainstream fame, and fortune up until around 2005 or so, when it seemed as though, rather than mainstream media dropping us like a dried up cash cow, as they are prone to do, skateboarding gradually backed away, leading us to today, in a society in which skateboarding is ever-present enough that skaters can make a decent living without the help of corporate non-skating puppet masters, leaving said puppeteers to look for more gullible pawns tacit investment opportunities. It seems to be working out alright for us skateboarders. Who wants to see skateboarding on TV every Saturday, anyway?

...Actually, I do kind of miss that part.

Okay, not all of it, but hear me out...

Now, I'll be the first to admit that my high-school years were filled with a supersaturation of "eXtreme!" television programming, and yes, much of it was unbelievably trying-too-hard cheesy, lumping skateboarding in with whatever fringe adventure-seeking activities execs could get their cocaine-dusted hands on, but there was, of course, the trade-off of knowing that every weekend from about April to October there was an excellent chance that there was some contest or another being broadcast on basic cable. To a teenage skate rat with no friends who skated themselves, this was a gift.

Thankfully, I started skating in 2000, so the gift wasn't painted stupid colours.

These days, it has become increasingly rare to see skateboarding on TV, so much so that I have my PVR set to record the Seattle stop of the Street League contest series. I can't remember the last time I watched a televised street contest, and to be perfectly honest, I don't know that I'll enjoy watching Street League as much as I enjoyed watching the X-Games, Gravity Games, Vans Triple Crown, and other such televised street contests of yore, largely due to the fact that I don't particularly care for the layout of modern street courses.

Maloof 2011 Las Vegas

I understand that skateboarding changes, and that said change has to be facilitated. I also realize that course layouts such as those built for the Maloof and Street League contests are more enticing to the more "hardcore" street guys who would otherwise scoff at the idea of skating contests. This does not, however, mean that I think that said street courses are either the most entertaining, or the best venues upon which to have pro skaters compete. Rather, it is my belief that courses such as are used in the Maloof and Street League contests are quite the opposite.

2011 Street League Seattle

In terms of the entertainment factor, these kinds of linear, spot-by-spot based street courses make for some of the least-fun-to-watch skateboarding. Does anybody know why ninety percent of a skater's video part is made up of tricks they landed? Because people watching the video don't want to watch forty-five minutes of ten guys trying one or two tricks apiece on a twelve-stair handrail. These courses are meant to replicate the experience of going to a street spot with a bunch of friends and sessioning, which is great if that's the kind of skating that you're into, and if you are the one skating. For the viewer, however, it becomes stale far too quickly, leaving one inclined to just wait for the video edits to come out online.

Slam City Jam 2001, Vancouver

In terms of whether or not these are the best venues in which to have pro skaters compete? I would not only disagree, but would also offer that such street courses are unbalanced and detrimental to contemporary skateboarding. The funny thing about street contests from seven to ten years ago compared to today, is that the street courses then incorporated elements of all kinds of skateboarding. While this kind of skatepark-centric course design wasn't indicative of the tech-gnar gap and handrail craze during the time, it favoured well-rounded skateboarding. Conversely, the street courses of today, while catering to the small contingent Chris Coles, Greg Lutzkas, and Nyjah Houstons who still make their careers out of spending more time traveling to a spot than riding a skateboard at it, completely ignore the fact that there has been a shift in skateboarding towards the all-terrain rider, who would have fared far better in street contests of days passed than they would in the modern all-day best trick carcass-tosses.

Me, personally? I say bring back the pyramids, bring back, the quarter pipes, bring back the masonite, and bring back the non-linear layouts. A skateboard contest should be judged on how well you ride a skateboard, not how well you repeatedly jump down a set of stairs on one. Besides, at least watching the old courses get torn down wasn't this painful...






Oh, the humanity....